I have a 2012 Roadster I brought home on June 15. I love the car, but I must say that the Sirius radio (I have the MINI connected w/o nav) stinks! The radio drops reception (due to a weak signal) about 10 times while I'm driving my 3-mile commute to work. It doesn't matter what Sirius channel I'm on, the same thing happens. There are no problems with regular radio, CD, iPod or Bluetooth; only Sirius has issues.

We have 2 other Sirius units (aftermarket) in a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid and 1987 Isuzu pickup, and although the signal strength varies on the roads I travel, they never drop their signals. As you may guess, I'm a fan of Sirius, and I was pleased that it came standard with MINI.

I have taken the car in three times for the dealer to look things over. The first time, they ordered a new antenna from Oxford. Two weeks later, I took it back, and they installed the antenna. No dice. One week later, they took it back and kept it for 12 days, but the call I got was that their specialists had looked everything over, they had reprogrammed the system, and the radio is working properly (i.e., there's nothing wrong with it). Bizarre thing is, two of the loaner cars (a Coupe and a Clubman) I had the use of while the "repairs" were being done also had Sirius activated, and they had no issues, but they were both the stock radio, not the MINI Connected.

So, has anyone else experienced anything like this? Like I said, I LOVE the car, but I'm really annoyed that the answer I'm getting is "that's the way the satellite radio is supposed to work" when I know that this is not the case.

 

It definitely sounds like an issue with your car. I have Mini Connected and have had zero issues with Sirius losing the signal. Whether you have Mini Connected or not, that really shouldn't change the Sirius receiver you have, or antenna. So sounds like something is screwed up somewhere.

 

I would not trust what the "MINI Specialists" are telling you.

There is really only 3-4 things that could be wrong.

1. Very weak signal in the area where you travel. But that seems to be ruled out by other cars in the MINI line up that do not have this problem

2.Bad or disconnected antenna anywhere along its run. Not totally sure but i believer there are three connectors in that line. one to the antenna on to the main harness and one to the receiver

3. Bad Antenna. Of course they have changed it but that does not mean the replacement was any good. So maybe another replacement is in order.

4. Bad receiver. This is the most likely problem. Tell them they must change it and to show you the old one to prove that they have replaced it. In fact better yet is to mark the one in the car with a marker before having them replace it so you know it has been replaced.

 

Well, I called corporate, and their response was to ask me to get a second opinion, so I have dropped off the car at another dealer.

On the way to drop off the car, I got to witness the Sirius radio working on terrestrial repeaters - it sounds great and does not drop the signal. Unfortunately, that may result in dealership #2 not finding anything wrong either, since they're located in said "terrestrial repeater zone."

The loaner I got this time is a 2012 HT, and the Sirius has exhibited no problems on the roads I travel, so that's now a 3-to-1 ratio in favor of "my car's radio is not working properly" in my book.

I'll post details as I hear more.

 

Well, as an update, the second dealership could find nothing wrong with my car's radio. So I called corporate again, and the answer was essentially "we rely on our dealers to determine if something is wrong, and since they can find nothing, there's little we can do." That being said, the representative I spoke with did call my dealer to speak with the head of the service department; that gentleman just called me to say that he had put in a call to MINI's tech support folks to see if there was anything further that could be done for my radio. We'll see if anything comes of this....

So, long story short, I've now had THREE loaner MINIs with Sirius activated, and none of them had any issues with reception in my area (northern Virginia). And, in a new low for performance, this morning as I drove in to work, my Sirius lost reception when I was stopped at a red light and a school bus pulled up next to my car. (!) But of course, this is normal, right? ;-)

 

I feel your pain. We bought a 2013 Clubman about 6 weeks ago, and the serious worked fine until 2 weeks ago (standard stereo). My reception is wretched within about 5 miles of where I live (Arbutus, outside of Baltimore). I videoed the lousy reception and showed Mini of Baltimore this morning, but of course when I drove the car with the shop foreman it worked fine. It's really frustrating, and after reading your story I'm even more worried. I'm waiting on a call from my service advisor to see what steps they will take next.

 

Well this sucks. Here is the official answer from Mini of Baltimore:

Apparently it is localized reception interference and not a fault with the unit in your MINI. There have indeed been other occurrences of Sat. radio ‘Fade’ and loss. Something is blocking your reception in your local area. I would suggest contacting Sirius directly and asking if they have other complains in your immediate area and are they looking into a ‘Fix’ ( Signal Boost ,maybe ) .
I wish I had a more positive answer for you and Brittany, but I do not.

 

There is no local problem with reception in my area. The Sirius units in my other two vehicles work fine. The Sirius units in the three loaner MINIs I had the use of while they were ineffectively working on my roadster all worked well on the exact same roads. I don't live close to Baltimore, so I've never dealt with that dealer, but it sounds like they are blowing smoke....

 

The funny thing is the most responsive person has been my sales person. Whodathunkit?
He is threatening to bring a car to my house tonight. I said I'd gladly drop it if another car behaves like ours.

 

UPDATE: my car was at Mini of Baltimore for 9 days. I convinced my sales guy to bring a loaner with Sirius to my house. Low and behold that car worked great. So he convinced service (and a nasty post from me on their FB Page) that there was indeed a problem with my car. They started at the antenna and worked their way back. The final fix: A NEW HEADUNIT. I just picked up the car and it works perfectly. If you need some guidance, call Jess in service there. For reference, my name is Marc Calderone. Good luck.

 

Update: Well, after 5 trips to 2 MINI dealers, I finally got the radio fixed. As Marc noted, the head unit was the culprit. Satellite radio is now working great. Only problem is that it appears that my park distance control is not working now. When I put the car in reverse, I get the video screen of the car as usual, but with a warning note to "pull forward" to get the PDC to work. When I take the car out of reverse, PDC turns off, and comes back on with same message if I put into reverse again.

 

I've always had good reception, but the sound quality rivals the AM radio in my long-ago 1958 Morris Minor.